


If You're Going Through Hell

by grimmfairy



Category: Arrow (TV 2012), Constantine (TV), The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Barry goes to Hell, Death, Greek Mythology - Freeform, Hades - Freeform, Hurt Barry, Hurt Len, M/M, Protective Barry, Temporary Character Death, To get Len back
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-18
Updated: 2016-01-23
Packaged: 2018-05-14 15:58:47
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,747
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5749309
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/grimmfairy/pseuds/grimmfairy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Are you sure?" Oliver asked one last time. Barry didn't answer. Constantine motioned for the speedster to step forward.<br/>"Remember. Don't look back, don't lose focus. You have one goal, and one chance. If you fail, if you lose focus, if you falter in your conviction, you will be trapped in purgatory and he will burn forever," Constantine paused to take Barry's hands and position one properly over the symbols and placed a gold coin in the other, payment for the portal to the underworld, to Hell. "Are you willing to risk your soul for this man?"</p><p>"It can't be worse than this," Barry answered roboticallly. It was the most anyone had heard him speak in the six months that Len had been dead.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

"Are you sure?" Oliver asked one last time. Barry didn't answer. Constantine motioned for the speedster to step forward.

"Remember. Don't look back, don't lose focus. You have one goal, and one chance. If you fail, if you lose focus, if you falter in your conviction, you will be trapped in purgatory and he will burn forever," Constantine paused to take Barry's hands and position one properly over the symbols and placed a gold coin in the other, payment for the portal to the underworld, to Hell. "Are you willing to risk your soul for this man?"

"It can't be worse than this," Barry answered roboticallly. It was the most anyone had heard him speak in the six months that Len had been dead.

_Len had been caught in the middle of the battle between Zoom and the Flash, refusing to leave his once-enemy's side. When Barry finally backed Zoom up to the rift leading to a deserted dimension, Zoom landed a blow to Len's side. Len didn't show how damaged his stomach was until after Zoom was gone. Barry had watched Len bleed out on the cold ground, trying to staunch the flow of blood from the gaping wound. Len had smiled, teeth stained with blood, and said he'd see him around._

_They had been together for a year. In secret of course, and at first nobody had understood why they found Barry clutching Captain Cold to his chest crying like his heart had been ripped out. It was Oliver that noticed the blood smeared on lips. The blood from Len's mouth when Barry kissed him one last time. And surprisingly, it was Joe that tried to help him move on and grieve properly. They went to the funeral, and Len's permanent record was silently posthumously wiped clean in honor of his sacrifice, though it was done so illegally by Felicity with the permission of Argus. But it was not enough. Barry stopped eating, working, and going out on Flash duty. Rumors flew about his possible death, loss of powers, anything and everything. He lost weight, and dark circles like bruises formed under his eyes. He was broken._

_Then a strange man wearing a trench coat and smoking a cigarette barged into his room._

_"Do you believe in Hell?"_

Barry took a deep breath and joined Constantine in chanting. The coin was cold and heavy in his hand, and when he opened his eyes, he and Constantine were standing in front of a lake. The water was murky and black, and completely still. Constantine lit a cigarette.

"The river Styx, the boundary between our world and the land of the dead."

"Hell?" Barry asked absently. He was observing the glass-smooth surface, intrigued by the lack of reflection.

"Hell, Hades, Underworld, not Heaven, that's for sure," Constantine agreed. Barry looked at the gold coin in his hand, then threw it as hard as possible into the distance. They heard a distant splash, and then the water began to ripple. "Here comes the ferryman."

A small boat appeared in the distance, the shadowy captain rowing slowly. Barry looked one last time at Constantine.

"One hour, kid. Then I'm leaving, with or without you. Don't look behind you, not for anything. I'll be waiting to take you back."

Barry nodded, and stepped into the small boat. It was weirdly stable, and upon observation, Barry saw that it was made of bone. The boat moved silently through the dark water for what felt like hours, but was only a few minutes according to Barry's watch. It was counting down the hour he had to remain in the underworld. The boat stopped moving right at a set of gates. Barry tried to figure out what they were made of, but the more he tried to focus on them, the less he could observe. They swung open and the ferryman (Charon, Constantine had told him), held out a bony hand to point towards them. Barry walked through them, and was greeted by the last person he wanted to see.

**Hello Barry.**

"Eobard?"

**Not Eobard, I merely took his form to better converse with you.**

Barry shivered, the not-voice filtering into his conscience though the specter's lips didn't move. It wasn't the face of Dr. Wells, it was truly Eobard, his true face. His mother's killer.

"I came to ask for the man that I love."

**Yes, I know the man of which you speak. He was judged unworthy of heaven. Blood stains his soul.**

"He's a good man! He saved my life and the lives of countless others!"

**The few good deeds at the end of his life do not outweigh the sins of the past.**

"Please! i love him!"

**Show me.**

Barry took the outstretched hand fell to his knees as the presence before him searched his memories, his thoughts and private feelings. Their first kiss, the nights spent comforting each other after nightmares, the way Len cooked him a full carton of eggs and a pound of bacon at three in the morning after Barry returned from a terrible fight with a meta-human. The way they fought about Len's criminal activity, Barry's quest to find the good in everyone, the way Barry refused to tell his friends about them. They swirled around in his mind, colliding and reforming until the presence left, removing his hand.

**Of all those you have loved and lost, you may take one back to the land of the living. You know the rules. Close your eyes, and turn around.**

Barry did as he was told, squeezing his eyes shut, knowing that all others who had come before him had failed. Constantine had warned him about the souls that would pretend to be his loved ones, that would try to trick him into taking them back.

"Barry?"

His world stopped. It was his mother's voice. It was exactly the he remembered.

"Mom?"

"Baby, we can be together again. Take my hand."

"No, I can't," Barry replied, balling his hands into fists. "I'm sorry mom, but he needs me."

"You would choose him over me? Don't you love me? Don't you want your mother back?"

"You aren't my mother," Barry replied.

"Barry."

"Eddie?" Barry clenched his fists even more. 

"You could make Iris happy again, give her the happy ending she was destined for."

"You aren't real."

Soft fingers brushed over his clenched fists, easing the tension. Blood dripped from the punctures of his nails in his palm.

"You're hurting yourself Scarlet, don't do that. Not for me."

"Len!" Barry choked out, his words mostly a sob. "I came for you."

"You have to leave, babe."

"Not without you, please, I need you to come with me," Barry pleaded, his hand opening, searching for Len's. Soft breaths tickled his neck.

"I can't let you do this for me."

"And i can't live without you, not knowing that you're here and we'll never see each other ever again," Barry was starting to cry. "Please! Just let me try!"

"Bossy," Len purred in his ear. Barry felt a cold hand slide into his. Len's hands were always cold.

**You may leave now. Take care, if you look behind you, your soul is forfeit and your lover will burn.**

"You realize no one has ever made it out alive, right?" Len teased gently, fingers tightening in Barry's. Barry grinned.

"Nothing's impossible."

* * *

Oliver gently placed a blanket over Felicity's shoulders, returning her small smile. She had insisted on waiting with Barry. The cemetery where they had held the funeral so long ago was silent, and Diggle was on watch duty in case any guards or late night visitors showed up. Constantine and Barry hadn't moved, not even a twitch, for six hours. It was unnerving. Cisco was sitting on the ground with back against the tombstone Lisa Snart was perched on, playing with his tablet and Caitlyn had left to bring them some food. Thea and Laurel were patrolling in the Arrow's absence. 

"They've been...gone, for so long," Felicity sighed. She hadn't known Snart very well, but she had watched her friend deteriorate in front of her until even Oliver was moved to try something less conventional. Constantine had seemed the best bet.

"Lenny's a stubborn one, he'll get out of there," Lisa grumbled from her place sitting on one of the tombstones. Cisco nodded. 

"If anyone can get past...well, death, it's Barry."

So they waited.

 

 

 


	2. Chapter 2

_"Do you believe in Hell?" The man asked again, mistaking Barry's silence for shock. In fact, Barry just didn't really speak at all anymore. Though the wild-eyed British man was something he wasn't expecting._

_Barry shrugged. He wasn't really sure if he believed in Hell. He supposed as a scientist people expected him to be skeptical of the whole thing, but in his heart he liked to believe in Heaven because if heaven existed then his mother was there. The man observed him shrewdly, the bags under his eyes and the rumpled bedsheets. The room was dark as he had blocked the windows so he could sleep during the day too._

_"When did you realize you loved your own villain?" The man asked casually, as if the question didn't pick at the barely scabbed wound on Barry's heart. "John Constantine, by the way. Our friend Oliver Queen sent me to have a little chat."_

_"Why?"_

_"Because he thinks for some reason that I can help you get your boyfriend back from the dead," Constantine replied impatiently. "So tell me. When did you know you loved Leonard Snart?"_

_Barry didn't need to think for very long._

_"I got hurt, not bad...I was careless and stupid during a fight. He was yelling at me for letting my guard down and...I realized that he was the only person that had bothered to ask if I was hurt..." Barry took in a shuddery breath, his voice raspy and quiet. "I started to cry and he stopped shouting and just...held me and asked what kind of pizza I wanted. And then I knew."_

_"Interesting. Now, I only ask because your boyfriend's soul is in Hell. You'll need more than the Lazarus Pit to get him back."_

_"What?" Barry felt, among other emotions, rage. "You can get him out?"_

_"No. But I can help you do it."_

* * *

Barry knew that if he was really in his corporeal body he would have broken Len's fingers he was holding on so tightly. He had opened his eyes once he was certain he wouldn't see his lover, otherwise the Voices assaulted him from all sides, begging for him to take them in Len's place, urging him to look behind him to make sure it was truly Len, and screaming in pain. There was a lot of screaming. Barry definitely didn't remember the walk from the shore to inside the gates being so long. Or there being a path. But Constantine had warned him of this. The final test of their love. To make it to the river Styx, he had to get past Cerberus, the guardian of the gate. It had no problem letting him, as the guardian allows all but the angels to enter, but it lets none leave without a fight. He was trembling with the effort of not turning around to see Len's face, to look into his eyes one more time. The guardian appeared in the distance.

Constantine had provided him with a solution for this as well, which only made Barry more curious as to where Oliver had met such a strange person. He wasn't a meta, and according to I-am-a-skeptic-Oliver he wasn't a scam, which would have scared Barry if he wasn't so determined to get Len back. 

Barry gathered his courage and approached the sounds of screams, leaving behind the voices begging. It was the sound of souls trying to escape, only to be stopped short at the sight of freedom. Cerberus was a monster, but what it looked like changed with every glance. It had three dog-like heads, then several serpent heads, then something Barry had never seen before. One large, clawed paw landed in front of him and a snarling head of a viper? hovered in front of him.

"I brought you something," Barry called out, tightening his grip further on Len's hand. The guardian of the gate turned to face Barry fully, its rotten breath washing over him as it growled.

Barry held out a small vial of clear liquid. 

"It's water spelled by a river nymph. If you drink it, you will hear music instead of the sounds of tortured souls," Barry let a hesitant serpent head take the small vial back to the main body of the beast. It seemed to study the bottle for awhile until uncorking it and draining it. The paw lifted. And then the viper sprayed venom into Barry's face.

* * *

Constantine lit another cigarette, staring at the slowly growing pile of burnt ends at his feet. 

"Hello, Manny."

"What are you doing, John?" The angel asked wearily. "To return a soul to a live body is one thing. But to actually bring a soul back from hell?"

"What do you care?" John sneered, blowing smoke at the angel. Manny just stared impassively at him with his ancient eyes.

"This man had his chance at life."

"And he was just starting to get it right," Constantine growled. "Besides, you can't deny that having a man that runs fast enough to change God's design is much more useful happy than wasting away in agony over his lover."

"You are playing around with fate, the fate of the Flash," Manny warned. "Leonard Snart is dead, and he should remain so. You have no right to risk the soul of someone so important."

"You and I both know that if that were true, then that would not be possible," Constantine pointed out to the river Styx where Charon and the boat were coming into view.

"What did you do to Cerberus?" Manny sounded more resigned. Constantine grinned. "Just be careful. You still have a role to play, just as Barry does."

"He's just a kid," Constanine growled. Manny gave him an almost sympathetic look.

Then he was gone.

"Prick."

Constantine watched with great interest as the boat approached. He couldn't see Leonard's soul where Barry was hanging on to it, but he didn't need to. It only mattered that Barry could resist the urge to look, and nobody had ever resisted this long. He knew the kid was special, but even the most optimistic part of him had expected Barry to fail. When Barry was closer, he could see why Barry was succeeding where others had not.

He was blind.

His eyes were milky white and the skin around them was red and inflamed. 

"What the hell happened to you?" The exorcist sighed. Barry gave him a small pained smile, reaching out blindly for him with one hand.

"Cerberus liked me, I think."

Constantine winced at the close-up look at the painful chemical burns on the young man's face. It certainly took care of the urge to look back at Len, he supposed. And Barry wasn't really injured physically, the effects wouldn't carry over once his soul was back in his body.

"Hang on tight kid. This is not going to be pleasant. And Len?" Constantine waited for Barry to nod. "You are going to wake up buried in your casket. If you can, please try not to panic while you wait for us to dig you out."

"Wait, what?" Barry cried. Then everything was gone.

* * *

_"Barry-up-open your-Barry!"_

Everything was fuzzy and his mouth was filled with cotton. His body seized, muscles locking and his skin crawling.

"BARRY!"

Cisco's voice cut through the fog. He felt something bump against his lips, and he opened his mouth on instinct. He had eaten three of the bars when he suddenly felt awareness creep back into his mind. Felicity's worried face materialized from the blurriness above him.

"Hi."

"Hi, Barry," Felicity replied. "You're back. Well, you didn't actually go anywhere. But you're back in your body."

"Len!" Barry sat up, then laid back down as nausea rolled over him. "Len, is he-"

"Dude, you haven't eaten in, like, way too long! Just relax, and eat a few more of those things," Cisco said as he monitored Barry's pulse and fluttered around him like a bird. Distantly, Barry could hear the sounds of digging.

"Constantine passed out, but he's coming around," Felicity informed him. "But he's better off than you. He can go eight hours without eating. You can not."

Barry pushed away the hands around him and managed to crawl over to where Oliver, Lisa, and Diggle were digging furiously. They didn't take long to reach the casket. The last words Barry heard before he passed out were Oliver whispering "Holy shit."

He woke again to the sounds of soft beeping. He was laying on a cot in Star Labs with several leads attached to his chest. He sat up carefully and his stomach growled loudly.

"Hey, welcome back," Oliver said, leaning forward in his chair where he was sitting next to Barry's cot. Barry groaned and accepted the protein brick from his friend. Oliver rubbed his back like he was child while he ate, and it felt too nice for Barry to shrug off.

"What hit me?" Barry swung his legs over the side of the cot, then accepted Oliver's support as he stood. "Where..."

"Come on, he's been sleeping a lot," Oliver said gently. He half-carried the speedster into the room that had been set aside and retrofitted for overnight stays at the lab with beds and a television. In one of the beds a human-sized lump was burrowed under several blankets. Barry looked desperately at Oliver. The millionaire nodded with a small smile. Barry dragged himself over to the bed and just stared down at the sleeping face that greeted him. Oliver slipped away silently as Barry knelt down beside the bed to just look.

Len woke to the sound of soft sobs. He opened his eyes and looked up blearily at the figure above him.

"Hey, Scarlet."

Barry smiled through his tears, which Len carefully wiped away with his thumb. He looked softer, more at ease than before. Len pulled back the covers a little and motioned for him to join. Barry crawled into the bed and allowed Len to wrap himself around his body and lay his head over Barry's heart. The warm tears wouldn't stop now that they had started. Len felt his own eyes tear up and he ran his hands over Barry's arms where they were wrapped around him.

"Don't cry, Barry," Len whispered. "You did the impossible. You shouldn't have."

"I had to," Barry answered, curling around Len, anchoring him. "Not just for you. It was selfish. But worth it."

Len stopped arguing. He was still exhausted. According to the wonderful Dr. Snow, his body had gone through a rather traumatic reversal of the decomposition process and expulsion of embalming fluids. Constantine had proceeded to make sure his soul was firmly in place and that nothing had hitched a ride back to the land of the living on his back, but apparently the guardian of the underworld had taken a liking to Barry and made sure they made it safely alone. Barry had passed out and wouldn't wake up, which had only added to the stress of suddenly returning to the world. It had taken Mick to drag Len away from his bedside to finally sleep and let Caitlyn set up a nutrient IV in Barry's arm. 

Everything was bright, and muted, and painful and soft and everything all at once. Lisa had spent an ungodly amount of time lecturing him about the dangers of being around heroes until Caitlyn got Mick to entice her out of the room with the promise of a big heist. It was best if he just stayed in bed with the lights dimmed and slept.

Now with Barry in his arms, he was finally convinced it was real.

"I missed you," Barry whispered. Len nodded. He had seen the way Barry tortured himself after his death. Part of his punishment in Hell. "I'm sorry I didn't tell Joe about us."

"Shh, we'll talk about it later, okay? Everything's okay now."


	3. Chapter 3

Joe knew it was probably creepy the way he was standing there watching Barry and Snart sleep. It was definitely not something he had ever thought he would be doing in his life. Barry looked peaceful, his face unlined and smooth in sleep. The past few months had destroyed him inside and Joe had gone down with him, unable to help his son because he didn't understand. He didn't know how Snart had managed to worm his way inside Barry's life, he didn't understand how Barry had let a criminal become his confidant. He just...didn't understand. And Barry wouldn't tell him how it happened. He wouldn't speak to him at all. His friends were no help either. Barry had gotten much better at lying.

"Detective," Snart muttered, opening his eyes and blinking up at the man. Joe shook himself out of his thoughts and again focused on the man holding Barry securely to his chest. He was holding Barry as if he thought the speedster would disappear if he let go. As if Barry was the one that had died. And in a way, Joe decided, Barry had died.

"Snart," Joe acknowledged, traces of the hard edge lingering. "Call me Joe."

"If we're on first name basis, Len is fine," The criminal replied, shifting slightly to get a better look at Barry's foster father. He looked older than Len remembered.

"Len," Joe repeated, some tension leaking out of him. "Good to have you back."

"Is it?"

"Barry missed you," Joe deflected. Len seemed to consider his answer, and must have found it satisfactory because he began to disentangle himself from Barry. Barry stirred and blearily looked at Len, making a soft sound of protest.

"Shhh, go back to sleep," Len whispered, smoothing gentle fingers over Barry's hair and placing a lingering kiss on his forehead. "I need to talk to the good detective."

"Joe?" Barry turned his soulful eyes to him. "Please..."

"I know, Bear. Don't worry," Joe reassured him. "Sleep, okay?"

Barry nodded and fell back to sleep with a final kiss from Len to the corner of his mouth. Joe watched the whole exchange with a growing sense of sadness. How had he missed this? For an entire year he had neglected to notice that Barry spent fewer nights at home, that he smiled more when he checked his phone, that he cringed whenever he or his friends tried to set him up on dates. He was ashamed in retrospect of all the terrible things he had said about Leonard Snart to Barry over the last year. Every time there was robbery, whether or not it was Captain Cold, he made remarks to Barry about him. He had missed the way Barry always seemed to disappear after those discussions. 

Len followed Joe to an empty room, full of odds and ends of equipment and furniture. Len felt sweat break out on his forehead and his fatigued muscles protested even the small distance he had walked. According to Caitlyn, he was going to remain this way for awhile because his cells were...well, he had checked out of that conversation pretty quickly. Constantine told him to take it easy while his body acclimated to being alive again. That was all he needed to know. Joe noticed the paleness of his face and helped him sit down on a discarded office chair.

"Is the part where you tell me you'll kill me if I hurt him?" Len asked when he caught his breath. "I've been there."

"I doubt that would do any good," Joe said as he eased himself down into another chair. Len watched him with a shadow of his regular smirk.

"And why is that?"

"I would be bluffing," Joe shrugged. "Because I know you'll never hurt him, not on purpose."

Len looked for the lie in his words, the deception. He had expected some form of threat from Joe West. He was, afterall, the only part of Barry's little family that hadn't talked to him in the time that he had been alive (again). Iris had been remarkably scary, though it was tempered by the hug she gave him. Oliver Queen had been around and made small talk with him, but he couldn't fault the secretive man for his reluctance.

"I love him," Len said finally. Joe nodded.

"I know you do."

"I never told Barry that," Len admitted, shame coloring his cheeks. "I never told him I loved him, and he still believed enough in me to cheat death."

"Guess Barry's the real theif," Joe smiled. Len shook his head, a small grin on his face. 

"Barry used to...tell me that he loved me all the time. I never said it back. I would tell him that I had pulled off the ultimate heist, stealing his heart," Len sighed. "Guess he beat my record."

"Barry tends to do that," Joe's phone buzzed, and he checked it quickly. "Come on, there's someone you need to meet in the main room."

* * *

Henry Allen was older than his years. Len knew the story, knew what had happened and how it had taken Barry many years to finally get the truth. He had rubbed Barry's back and squeezed his hand while he haltingly told Len his story about the man in the lightning, Wells being Thawne, and the death of the good detective. The man stared at Len, his weather face holding a small smile as Len shook his hand.

"So. You're the one that Barry asked me about."

Joe turned sharply to look at his old friend. Henry ignored him.

"He told you about me?"

"Only that he was seeing someone, someone he didn't think I'd approve of if I knew his identity," Henry chuckled. "I told him that it didn't matter if he was sure you were the one. Barry is good at reading people."

"I've heard a lot about you, sir," Len said awkwardly. He wasn't sure how to react to the easy acceptance of the man. He had thought Mr. Allen would hate him for endangering his son. Henry laughed.

"Please, call me Henry, not sir. I'm not that old yet, am I?"

"Dad?" Barry called softly from the doorway. Henry turned and held out his arms to his son who almost tripped over himself to get to his dad. Henry hugged him tightly and kissed his hair. "What are you doing here?"

"A very nice man with a private jet came to tell me that my son was going to Hell," Henry said as he released Barry. "I couldn't pass up the chance to finally meet the man in your life."

Barry grinned and looked at Len who nodded. 

"You don't...you aren't mad?"

"Son, if I know anything about life, it's this," Henry said, reaching for Len's hand which he gently folded over Barry's. "If you find the right person, then that's all that matter."

Barry hugged his dad again, with one arm as he still held Len's hand. 

* * *

Barry started awake in a cold sweat only to feel cool arms wrapped around him and even breaths ruffling the hairs on his neck. Len nuzzled his neck gently.

"Are you awake?" Barry whispered, not sure what answer he wanted more.

"Yeah."

Barry turned in Len's embrace to face him, and Len started stroking his cheek, a look of wonder on his face.

"How did I get here?" He whispered. Barry shrugged.

"You would have found your way without me."

"I love you," Len replied, unable to hold the words in anymore. "I'm sorry I never said it before. I just figured that you'd eventually see how much better off you'd be with someone good, so why say the words?"

"I-" Barry closed his eyes as tears pooled in them. "I could never be with anyone but you."

"And I will never forget that," Len kissed the tip of his nose. "Hey."

"What?"

"Joe called around. Since technically there seems to be no trace of me in any database, I'm not a wanted man."

"Really?" Barry snuggled closer. "What are you going to do?"

"I'll follow your lead."

 

 

 


End file.
